When Life Gives You Rotten Lemons
by The Gibbslets
Summary: Throw it in their faces. A deserted beach before the storm Tony finds Ziva and then contimlate the past 24 hours. Post Till Death Do Us Part. Tiva, Will be short
1. Velvet

**Velvet**

_A grey ocean swelled before the gaze of Ziva David. Her doe brown eyes reflected the restless tossing of the waves as she looked upon this battle of sand and sea spray with eyes that seemed unseeing. Florida as usually warm at this time of year but the solemn mood of the past day seemed to bring down the weather, making the sky grey and bloated with a spring storm, ready to assault the elderly residence of the shore line with a harsh onslaught of rain. _

_Ziva had been standing on the beach for a while now. Her dark hair danced over her shoulders and neck as some parts whipped her face as the wind guided it in all directions. She wore a dark long sleeved shirt which had patches of even darker on it from where the spray had dampened her, her jeans proved to be in the same state but with a coating of sand at the helm of the legs. She encircled her arms around herself in order to bring some warmth to her chilled bones as she tried not to dwell on the slash of memories of the past 24 hours that she knew would aback her in a rush of pain at any moment. She closed her eyes to the incoming storm and images flashed in her mind. The explosion, her partners unfocused eyes, Gibbs face as he gave them the news, the transporter flight here which was bumpy and silent of all communication. She opened her eyes as Tony's face floated in her mind. The live streak of blood down his face, she shook her self and tried to focus on the roaring waves and the darkening sky. She should head back to the hospital but she couldn't stand that waiting room any longer. It was just as well everything was close to the seaside here so escape was gained less than a kilometre away. _

_She inhaled the fine air, trying to preserve the calm before the storm both proverbial and literal. Her fingers clenched around nothing and she tilted her head as she glanced over her shoulder only to see someone nearing her. She turned back to observe the sea, waiting for him to reach her. His bare feet crunched against the sand as he paused just behind her side and remained silent. He was no doubt observing her. In reality he was drinking in her appearance. Her hair, her shoulders, and the way she stood, the way she miraculously still breathed. He wanted to reach out to her, for her to seek the solace she craved in him but something held him back. Finally she spoke, quietly and slightly melodically. _

"_Any news?" _

_He cleared his throat and took a few steps to her side so he now had an unobstructed view of the rolling grey. Their shoulders brushed and his knuckles grazed her wrist. _

"_Not yet. He's still out. Doctors are easing off the meds; wanna see what's under the hood."_

_He spoke so matter-of-factly she relaxed a bit at the normalcy of his words and his tone. She permitted herself to look at him, observe his profile against the grey of the sky resist not brushing his frown away with her fingers. A rare thought danced across her mind and she pushed it out in an attempt to draw her thoughts back to the simplicity of nothingness. He allowed her, her vote of silence for once and instead of doing what he did best, mainly talking, he remained still and quiet as she watched the ocean some more. _

"_It's all happening so… fast." She mumbled and wrapped up her fingers as a tremble went down her body both at the cold and the memories. _

"_Yeah."_

_Stupid really, that was all he could say, he mentally berated himself. His green eyes sought her face again as she struggled for fitting words. _

"_I-I don't know." She slumped in a defeated manner and her looked down and boldly touched her elbow, she turned to gaze up at him and he made the slightest move of her arm which she correctly interpreted and leaned in closer to him, her face meeting the missed spot of his neck she sought out so much. His arms encircled her in them and he closed his eyes as he rested his head on hers. She seemed to still be speaking though he couldn't hear anything coherent from her and presently she lapsed in to silence of breathing. He felt he could sleep like this, little rest in 24 hours found him desperate for a bit of oblivion. He seemed to find it when he trapped her, her at her very weakest point where we could wrap her up and keep her away from the billowing storm that billowed through their dysfunctional family and blew their old home up. He felt merely holding her wasn't enough? He wanted her to know how much pain he had gone through and how much he was fighting with himself especially now, because to tell her about the struggle to not blow up and panic in that elevator as he came to relies that losing her wasn't worth living through, her motionless for just lying there. And through it all she came out with just an out of place shoulder and some bumps and bruises and him with a small concussion? Some god out there had his eye on the family in D.C just not their leg here in Florida. _

"_It was near here he…"_

_Oh yes Tony knew what she was whispering about, she squeezed her tighter and her fingers began to pinch his skin as he gripped her eager for her contact and her heat beat which he could feel, quick like a little bird. It seemed so unlike them to be here embracing on the very beach Ducky had been found, Tony could picture it now even though he hated to. Palmer yelling at him to wake up as sand covered half on the M.E's face and his glasses lay discarded nearby his still form._

"_I know."_

_Tony found his voice saying its own things now, and now his body was also taking over him, he actually let Ziva squirm out of his grip, she stood before him unable to make contact with his eyes as he saw something pooling in hers. Tears. Again he moved before he thought and her cheek felt so velvety soft by his hand and her lips were equally as smooth even when she started kissing him back. Running his hand over her hair and cheek. She was like velvet. _


	2. Quiver

**Quiver**

_This is kind of a sequel to Velvet. Post, post finale. Team have gone to Florida to see Ducky and are using the time to try and sweep away emotional scars of the past week. Enjoy _

That sweet night after the storm had past they built a bonfire as high as they could go, like seniors just out of school they threw on flammable objects before McGee stopped them and showed them his tepee building technique as a proper webelos he had perfected his skill. Most of them were just desperate for the work. By the time all the stars had rose Tony was striking a match, ignoring McGee's waring's and throwing it on to the pile of wood, a few tries later and the fire was soaring higher than they could bare to look, smoke burned their eyes as the green palm wood they had thrown on proved a mistake, Ziva stood back beside Abby as they observed their handy work. Ziva relished her hurting arm as the few days she had given the dislocation to heal began to take its toll on her sensitive muscles. The night's cold soon left their veins and soon after the smoke had died down Gibbs appeared with liquor.

"Gibbs!" Abby sprung in to his arms and the other three crowded also.

"He's still out. Figure we could all use a break." He disentangled her arms and eyed the fire. "Your's McGee?"

McGee didn't reply

"Good job, she's gonna burn all night." He nodded in approval and handed McGee some bottles which clinked in the exchange from boss to probie. "A parting gift, you take care." He addressed the whole group with his last.

"Gibbs?" Abby seemed to have only one word at the moment which worried him. He smiled at her a little and nodded at them all.

"Got a flight for one to D.C, you look after Ducky." He turned and headed back in to the shadows of the palm grove nearby.

"Gibbs! We'll come-" Abby's voice broke and Tony took her arm and gently pulled her back. She pushed her face in to his shoulder and he patted her back, turning to face Ziva who was already watching him with tired eyes. He found his hand taking hers.

"Dearing will be dead by morning."

It seemed the drink became like water in a desert to the grieved agents, they lapped it up like a life source, a drug they couldn't get enough of as it sent them over in to a world much like a child's own. A world where Abby and Tony danced around the fire singing out of tune choruses of 'Heartbreak Hotel' Ziva, not knowing the words to the Elvis classic sat sprawled on the sand as laughter caught her again and again as the bottle they were sharing met her lips and she gulped back the drink with the regret of doing so every time after.

"I'm feelin' so lonely I could dieeeee." Tony rounded off his song as he fell to his knees in front of Ziva and collapsed on to his back with laughter beside her. She chortled and pushed the sand in to trenches with her bare toes. Tony pulled himself to a sitting position as he took the bottle of whiskey from Ziva's grasp and taking a swig himself. He raked her with his eyes, maybe it was because he was drunk or tired but he was revelling the fact she was alive, her heart still beating and lungs still working. He took in her fire lit face and her loose tendrils of hair and the way her white dress wore her so perfectly. He knew his leering wouldn't be allowed for much longer.

"What?" She narrowed her fine dark eyes at him and he merely shrugged and turned his gaze back to the fire which was getting hotter with each layer of wood it burnt.

They hadn't discussed the beach since it happened, he thought she may have just seen it as a consolation; admittedly it was a new type of consolation but had enjoyed it thoroughly and was willing to go there again. His thoughts were muddled and clouded as his arm wrapped around her waist subtly so neither Abby nor McGee who were dancing together now could see.

He found it felt good not to worry, about Gibbs, about Dearing about Ducky or his job. He didn't want to think what state the building was in back in DC, all he felt was the alcohol in his blood stream and his desire for the night to last forever as she lay her head on his collar bone and her breath danced across his neck.

"Are we going to talk about what happened on the beach?" She asked so quietly he could pretend the alcohol drowned her out. But she wasn't buying it so he opened his eyes and looked down at her. Eyes glistening brown in the fire light with a hint of intoxication.

"No, I'm much too drunk to talk about it." He picked up the bottle again and she snatched it back and cast it a little way over the sand and out of his reach. "Give me one night of a break please Ziva!" he took an arm around her shoulders and she fell against his chest.

"_Do you love me Tony?"_

His eyes locked down on to her and all trances of intoxication had disappeared. His lips moister evaporated in an instant and his hands became clammy he felt an ache in the pit of his stomach.

"Ziva I-"

"Tony." She shut him up with his own name and he removed his hands from her and lay out over the cool sand behind her so she couldn't see him.

"Why- ha- why are you even asking this?" His shoulders shook as he attempted to slip back in to his alcohol induced stupor.

"We kissed on the beach. I can see it in your eyes." She turned to look at him on the sand

"I am not in a good head space to be answering these questions right now."

"Okay then, I'll ask you when your sober and every day after that until you tell me." She stood from the sand and picked up her shoes. "I'm going to see Ducky."

He watched her walk away from him over the sand with a slight struggle to remain walking in a straight line as she took the used rough up to the hospital through the date palms planted for the enjoyment of pensioners.

The door opened and she turned her tired, not to mention hung over, gaze to the person entering the room. It was Tony. He was freshly shaven and showered, he wore pale stone washed out jeans and a button down white shirt, his hair was messed up and longer than he usually kept it and it took her a while to tear her gaze from him, he looked beautiful while she was sitting here in the hospital in a dirty white beach dress and her hair bedraggled and lank. He gesture out of the door and she realised it must be morning, that would explain his sober appearance. She got up and left the room and then the hospital with him, down to the beach and the smoking remains of the previous night's fire. She saw the bottles had been cleaned up and the sand was smooth and white from the high tide, their footsteps were first to dent its smoothness. Now they were by the break water watching the partially calm ocean swell and dip before them.

"De-ja-vu." Tony finally spoke and his calm voice echoed out over the landscape.

"Except without the storm."

"In a manner of speaking." He grunted with no humour in his voice.

"I love you."

The only sound for a while was the crashing of waves, soon it became too long and she turned back to the hospital and away from him her eyes dry but her insides seemed to be gone as her lips were as dry as sand paper as her body prepared for the coming heart ache but then… then…

His hand closed over her wrist and pulled her back to him.

"Ziva David, a few days ago I came so very close to losing you and everything I had, but a hit to the head didn't make me realise how I feel about you, I have always known this would happen because even over oceans and miles we have always found each other, Ziva I need you. Ziva, Ziva,"

She was trying to pull out of his grasp

"Ziva, I do- I love you."

Her voice shook as she tried to speak and failed and he pulled her close to him in an embrace, she pushed aside the cotton of his shirt from constricting her face and numbly clung on to him.

"Dearing's Dead." He muttered and all at once they felt, It was over.

**I am not sure really what this story was. I am working on so many Fics recently but anyway I am happy with this ending! The Gibbslets x**


End file.
